Remotely controlled surgical instruments, including teleoperated surgical instruments, are often used in minimally invasive medical procedures. During medical procedures, surgical instruments may be articulated in one or more directions. For instance, the surgical instrument may be actuated by a transmission mechanism at a proximal end of the surgical instrument shaft to orient and position an end effector located at a distal end of the surgical instrument in a desired location. The surgical instrument may further include a wrist, such as a jointed, articulatable structure, that the end effector is connected to so that the end effector may be positioned relative to the shaft. The surgical instrument may further include one or more end effector actuation elements that pass through the surgical instrument, including the wrist, to actuate the end effector. Articulating (bending) the wrist may result in bending of the end effector actuation element(s), which may cause a change in the length of the end effector actuation element(s). Such a change in length can result in unintended motions of the end effector. In view of this, it may be desirable to provide a surgical instrument that includes one or more end effector actuation elements configured to substantially conserve the length of the actuation elements when a wrist of the instrument is articulated.